Constitution of India


The Constitution of India is the supreme legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens.
It espouses constitutional supremacy and was adopted with a declaration in its preamble. The Indian Constitution does not contain a provision to limit the powers of the parliament to amend the constitution. However, the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala held that there were certain features of the Constitution so integral to its functioning and existence that they could never be cut out of the constitution.
The Government of India Act 1935, mainly drafted by Samuel Hoare, provided the basis for the constitution of India. The Constituent Assembly of India adopted the constitution on 26 November 1949 and became effective on 26 January 1950. It became the country's fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India. To ensure constitutional autochthony, its framers repealed prior acts of the British parliament, in Article 395. India celebrates its constitution on 26 January as Republic Day.
The constitution declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic, assures its citizens justice, equality, and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity. The original 1950 constitution is preserved in a nitrogen-filled case at the Parliament Library Building in New Delhi.

Background

In 1928, the All Parties Conference convened a committee in Lucknow to prepare the Constitution of India, which was known as the Nehru Report.
With the exception of scattered French and Portuguese exclaves, India was under the British rule from 1858 to 1947. From 1947 to 1950, the same legislation continued to be implemented as India was a dominion of United Kingdom for these three years, as most of the princely states were convinced by Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Louis Mountbatten to sign the articles of integration with India, and the British Government continued to be responsible for the external security of the country. Thus, the constitution of India repealed the Indian Independence Act 1947 and Government of India Act 1935 when it became effective on 26 January 1950. India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown and became a sovereign, democratic republic with the constitution. Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392, 393, and 394 of the constitution came into force on 26 November 1949, and the remaining articles became effective on 26 January 1950 which is celebrated every year in India as Republic Day.

Previous legislation

The Indian constitution was drawn from a number of sources, mainly the Government of India Act 1935 which was significantly drafted by Samuel Hoare. Mindful of India's needs and conditions, its framers borrowed features of previous legislation such as the Government of India Act 1858, the Indian Councils Acts of 1861, 1892 and 1909, the Government of India Acts 1919 and 1935, and the Indian Independence Act 1947. The latter, which led to the creation of Pakistan, divided the former Constituent Assembly in two. Each new assembly had sovereign power to draft and enact a new constitution for the separate states.

Constituent Assembly

The constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by elected members of the provincial assemblies. The 389-member assembly took almost three years to draft the constitution holding eleven sessions over a 165-day period.
In the constitution assembly, a member of the drafting committee, T. T. Krishnamachari said:
B. R. Ambedkar in his concluding speech in constituent assembly on 25 November 1949 stated that:
While deliberating the revised draft constitution, the assembly moved, discussed and disposed off 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,635.

Timeline of formation of the Constitution of India

  • 6 December 1946: Formation of the Constitution Assembly.
  • 9 December 1946: The first meeting was held in the constitution hall. The 1st person to address was J. B. Kripalani, Sachchidananda Sinha became temporary president.
  • 11 December 1946: The Assembly appointed Rajendra Prasad as its president, H. C. Mukherjee as its vice-president and, B. N. Rau as constitutional legal adviser.
  • 13 December 1946: An "Objective Resolution" was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru, laying down the underlying principles of the constitution. This later became the Preamble of the Constitution.
  • 22 January 1947: Objective resolution unanimously adopted.
  • 22 July 1947: National flag adopted.
  • 15 August 1947: Achieved independence. India split into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan.
  • 29 August 1947: Drafting Committee appointed with B. R. Ambedkar as its chairman. The other six members of committee were K.M. Munshi, Muhammed Sadulla, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Devi Prasad Khaitan and BL Mitter.
  • 16 July 1948: Along with Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, V. T. Krishnamachari was also elected as second vice-president of Constituent Assembly.
  • 26 November 1949: The Constitution of India was passed and adopted by the assembly.
  • 24 January 1950: Last meeting of Constituent Assembly. The Constitution was signed and accepted.
  • 26 January 1950: The Constitution came into force.
G. V. Mavlankar was the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha after India turned into a republic.

Membership

, Sanjay Phakey, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Sandipkumar Patel, Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Nalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwantrai Mehta were key figures in the assembly, which had over 30 representatives of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi. Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a Christian assembly vice-president, chaired the minorities committee and represented non-Anglo-Indian Christians. Ari Bahadur Gurung represented the Gorkha community. Judges, such as Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Benegal Narsing Rau, K. M. Munshi and Ganesh Mavlankar were members of the assembly. Female members included Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh, Amrit Kaur and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
The first, two-day president of the assembly was Sachchidananda Sinha; Rajendra Prasad was later elected president. It met for the first time on 9 December 1946.

Drafting

Sir B. N. Rau, a civil servant who became the first Indian judge in the International Court of Justice and was president of the United Nations Security Council, was appointed as the assembly's constitutional advisor in 1946. Responsible for the constitution's general structure, Rau prepared its initial draft in February 1948. The draft of B.N. Rau consisted of 243 articles and 13 schedules which came to 395 articles and 8 schedules after discussions, debates and amendments.
At 14 August 1947 meeting of the assembly, committees were proposed. Rau's draft was considered, debated and amended by the seven-member drafting committee, which was appointed on 29 August 1947 with B. R. Ambedkar as chair. A revised draft constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the assembly on 4 November 1947.
Before adopting the constitution, the assembly held eleven sessions in 165 days. On 26 November 1949, it adopted the constitution, which was signed by 284 members. The day is celebrated as National Law Day, or Constitution Day. The day was chosen to spread the importance of the constitution and to spread thoughts and ideas of Ambedkar.
The assembly's final session convened on 24 January 1950. Each member signed two copies of the constitution, one in Hindi and the other in English. The original constitution is hand-written, with each page decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose. Its calligrapher was Prem Behari Narain Raizada. The constitution was published in Dehradun and photolithographed by the Survey of India. Production of the original constitution took nearly five years. Two days later, on 26 January 1950, it became the law of India. The estimated cost of the Constituent Assembly was 6.3 crore. The constitution has had more than 100 amendments since it was enacted.

Influence of other constitutions

Structure

The Indian constitution is the world's longest for a sovereign nation. At its enactment, it had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. At about 145,000 words, it is the second-longest active constitution—after the Constitution of Alabama—in the world.
The amended constitution has a preamble and 470 articles, which are grouped into 25 parts. With 12 schedules and five appendices, it has been amended 106 times; the latest amendment was given assent on 28 September 2023.
The constitution's articles are grouped into the following parts:
  • Preamble, with the words "socialist", "secular" and 'integrity' added in 1976 by the 42nd amendment
  • Part I – The Union and its Territory – Articles 1 to 4
  • Part II – Citizenship – Articles 5 to 11
  • Part III – Fundamental Rights – Articles 12 to 35
  • Part IV – Directive Principles of State Policy – Articles 36 to 51
  • Part IVA – Fundamental Duties – Article 51A
  • Part V – The Union – Articles 52 to 151
  • Part VI – The States – Articles 152 to 237
  • Part VII – States in the B part of the first schedule – Article 238
  • Part VIII – Union Territories – Articles 239 to 242
  • Part IX – Panchayats – Articles 243 to 243
  • Part IXA – Municipalities – Articles 243 to 243
  • Part IXB – Co-operative societies – Articles 243 to 243
  • Part X – Scheduled and tribal areas – Articles 244 to 244A
  • Part XI – Relations between the Union and the States – Articles 245 to 263
  • Part XII – Finance, property, contracts and suits – Articles 264 to 300A
  • Part XIII – Trade and commerce within India – Articles 301 to 307
  • Part XIV – Services under the union and states – Articles 308 to 323
  • Part XIVA – Tribunals – Articles 323A to 323B
  • Part XV – Elections – Articles 324 to 329A
  • Part XVI – Special provisions relating to certain classes – Articles 330 to 342
  • Part XVII – Languages – Articles 343 to 351
  • Part XVIII – Emergency provisions – Articles 352 to 360
  • Part XIX – Miscellaneous – Articles 361 to 367
  • Part XX – Amendment of the Constitution – Articles 368
  • Part XXI – Temporary, transitional and special provisions – Articles 369 to 392
  • Part XXII – Short title, date of commencement, authoritative text in Hindi and repeals – Articles 393 to 395